Official portrait, c. 1973
Emílio Garrastazu Médici (4 December 1905-9 October 1985) was President of Brazil from 30 October 1969 to 15 March 1974, succeeding the Military junta and preceding Ernesto Geisel. He was a member of the ARENA party, and his tenure marked the apex of the Brazilian military government.
Biography[]
Emilio Garrastazu Medici was born in Bage, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil in 1905 to a family of Italian-Uruguayan and Basque descent. He rose to the rank of general in the Brazilian Army from the 1920s to 1960, and he became the commander of the military academy in 1964, the year of the military coup in which he participated, which ended eighteen years of civilian government. He subsequently became a pivotal figure in the military dictatoship as director of the military intelligence services, and in 1969 became President himself. During most of his rule, which was marked by political repression and human rights violations, Brazil enjoyed its own economic miracle of further industrialization and rapid economic growth. He also encouraged the settlement of the Amazon. However, these measures were unable to prevent the country from suffering from the 1973 oil-price shock, particularly as Brazil remained heavily reliant on primary imports (such as oil). He left office in 1974 and died in 1985.